St. Paul daily globe., 1887-01-10
CONGREssM DEFE NDED.
Nest National Legislators r0or and
Strictly Honorable Men.

Nest National Legislators roor and
strictly Honorable Men.
Correspondence New York Herald.
Gen. Logan, having spent nearly his
whole life in the service of his country.
has died poor. He has left but little prop
erty, and that is not productive. 1t is an
honorable record, and Mrs. Logan, who has
been the sharer of his labors and anXieties
for so many years, need not hesitate to ac-
cept any pension which congress has voted.
Public life in this country is so absorb
ing that American public men are much
0ftener poor than wealthy. Not many have
the gift Of money making, and the calls
upon their means are great. Stanton, the
great war secretary, who might easily have
accumulated millions in his place, spent
part of his moderate private accumuIa-
| tionS during the high-priced war times,
and left his family with very small means.
Mr.. Lincoln once, in the last year of his
presidency, told a personal friend with
great satiSfac ton that he had always been
careful with his money, and believed he
should be worth as much as $1,000 at the
| close of his term. He thought that very
| handsome some of money.
| Chief Justice Taney's family were left
poor. There is employed in the treasury
department lady who from the window
near her desk looks ont on thew hte house
grounds. in which she played as child
| the favOrite grandchild of president.
| She was born in the White house, and is
now government clerk,
| There are good many wealthy men in
congress, but much the greater number of
members OF both houses are poor, honora-
bly, poor, and many of the ablest men who
| have served in congress for years live quietly
i'll obscure quarters or in hotels. and bear
the Inconvenience of life with honorable
contentment and just pride.
There is a too general impression that
congress is a venal body, and that consid
cradle part OF its members are in some
way pecuniary gamers by their services
! there. The contrary is true. There is not
a more honest, ncorruptible, conscientious
body of men in any legislature in the world
! than the congress of the United States.
The exceptions to the rule are few, and
have never been many. even in the most
cOrruptlng times of the war and the infla-
! ton period after the war. There are a very
| lew men III every congress who aid or Op-
! pose Legislation to serve corporations. or
! In other ways use their influence and votes
| for other than public ends and not with
i view to personal gains to themselves.
But oftenest even these corporation SEN
| ators and members. who quickly become
sort of black sheep among their associates.
seek as their private reward only the sup
port Of corporation influences to secure
their reelection. To this extent the in
| tiuence of powerful corporations in differ
ent parts of the country. east as well as
west, does undoubtedly make itself felt
in congress, and especially in the senate,
where it is now very difficult to get action
on measures, no matter how just and nec-
essary, which some great corporation Op-
| poses.
The speaker of the house. Mr.. Carlisle
the third officer in dignity and succession in
the g0vernment-lives with his wife in rooms
in an upper story of the Riggs house. Mr..
Morrison has Lived during his whole and hC n
Orable service in Wizards hotel, in narrow
quarters, and when this congress adjOurns
Will retire to private life as poor a man as
when he entered it. Mr.. Randall lives in
| small house in Il not fashionable and OBJ
scure part of town. MI. Hiscock and Mr..
Reed. the Republican leaders in the house.
both live at hotels, and hotel living is very
reasonable in price at Washington.
| Speaker Kerr never had house here and
died poor. No speaker of the house. ex-
cept Mr.. Blaine, since the war. had resi-